FOI 7-24: Various costs of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Information Standards Freedom of Information Response
Our Ref: FOI 7-24
11 March 2024
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I am writing to confirm that the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) has processed your request dated 7 February 2024 in line with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In your request, you asked:
“I would be grateful if you would provide the following under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
1) The running costs of the NIA in each of the past 10 years, whilst a total annual figure is sought should it include MLAs expenses and salaries please separate these out?
2) The Assembly chose to reconvene on Saturday the 3rd February 2024, as this is not a normal working day, please disclose how many staff where called into work to cover this sitting? In addition, please disclose how many hours of overtime this constituted?
3) Given the building had to be fully staffed, canteens opened, building secured and heated, please disclose the likely additional cost for this one day sitting, as I am sure it must have been budgeted for in advance?
4) It is rumoured that an MLA left Saturday's sitting by helicopter. Whilst it was not reported where the take-off location was of this helicopter, assuming it was not the close by airport, did the NIA give permission for a helicopter to land in its grounds?
5) Regardless of permission being given does the NIA know whether a helicopter landed in their grounds on Saturday? If so, is there any security footage of this please disclose?
Our Response
1) The running costs of the NIA in each of the past 10 years to include MLAs expenses and salaries.
The Assembly Commission considers this information to be exempt from disclosure under Section 21 of the FOIA 2000. Section 21 provides that information is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA 2000 if it is accessible to the applicant by other means, as outlined in the FOIA 2000:
(1) Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)—
(a) information may be reasonably accessible to the applicant even though it is accessible only on payment, and
(b) information is to be taken to be reasonably accessible to the applicant if it is information which the public authority or any other person is obliged by or under any enactment to communicate (otherwise than by making the information available for inspection) to members of the public on request, whether free of charge or on payment.
Where this exemption has been applied, the Assembly Commission has endeavoured to provide you with further advice and assistance by noting the links below:
Assembly Commission Annual Resources Accounts
Members’ Salaries and Expenses
2) The Assembly sitting of Saturday the 3rd February 2024.
How many staff where called into work to cover this sitting?
87 staff were required to cover this sitting.
In addition, please disclose how many hours of overtime this constituted?
The exact number of hours for any overtime claimed is not held at the time of this request. This figure will not be known until all of the overtime claims have been officially submitted by those staff eligible to do so. This will not be known until staff salaries are calculated in March 2024.
Furthermore, not all staff who were on duty on 3 February 2024 will have submitted a claim for overtime. Time off in lieu is available to eligible staff as an option rather than any overtime payment.
3) Given the building had to be fully staffed, canteens opened, building secured and heated, please disclose the likely additional cost for this one day sitting, as I am sure it must have been budgeted for in advance?
There were no additional costs incurred by the Assembly Commission for opening the catering outlets due to the current terms and conditions of the contract with our service provider.
Limited hospitality was provided to visiting guests viewing the sitting at a cost of £270.54.
4) It is rumoured that an MLA left Saturday's sitting by helicopter. Whilst it was not reported where the take-off location was of this helicopter, assuming it was not the close by airport, did the NIA give permission for a helicopter to land in its grounds?
The Assembly Commission holds no information in regard to this matter.
5) Regardless of permission being given does the NIA know whether a helicopter landed in their grounds on Saturday? If so, is there any security footage of this please disclose?
The Assembly Commission holds no information in regard to this matter.
Further information
You have the right to request an internal review of this decision by the Assembly Commission and if you wish to do so, please write to me at the above address. If after such an internal review you are still unhappy with the response, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF which will undertake an independent review.
The Assembly Commission may publish details of your FOI request and its official response within the organisational disclosure log. The request will be completely anonymised and you will not be identified in any way. This is to meet the requirements as laid out by in the agreed publication scheme with the Information Commissioners’ Office
Yours sincerely
Data Protection and Governance Officer
